tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57799262011-12-07T19:23:11.457-07:00Nature Tends Towards Maximum IronyCalifornia Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.comBlogger4331100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-64662999100518635342010-02-12T11:39:00.002-07:002010-02-12T11:46:24.323-07:00

The idea of writing a lab manual for comparative osteology has been floating around for a while.  There just isn't a good one out there and one of the best was written well over 100 years ago and has greatly outmoded jargon and few illustrations.  What students need is a lab manual that they can go to that tells them how to tell similar bones from different mammals apart and what to look for.  A

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-8932810322730144982009-12-17T14:07:00.001-07:002009-12-17T14:08:14.755-07:00

-By Georges Cuvier, Henry M'Murtrie

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-42898646319344380622009-11-02T21:02:00.005-07:002009-11-02T21:32:10.227-07:00

Generally, text messaging speeds up communication.  You can say succincltly what you want and get on with your day while you wait for an answer.  Yet text messaging has also made it so that a simple wrong number has become a gigantic hassle.  This is how the texting went:Unknown Number: Heyy what are you doing =-)Me: Who is this?Unknown: Dang how many girls do you give your number that you can't

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-79280212795348868732009-10-22T21:59:00.003-06:002009-10-23T15:16:52.912-06:00

People hate my puns, I know, and so on the internet they shall go.to see these puns you mighthave intentionally visited a pun filled siteThe American Museum's collection of birdshave provided woodpecker puns, abundant, absurd.  The woodpecker, a two part name; phallic each.Dryobates one resorts to when lube's far from reach.The downy woodpecker is Picoides pubescens Though calling the hairy

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-81700062102562457212009-09-08T15:54:00.001-06:002009-09-08T15:56:12.516-06:00

The awesome alternative rock band "They Might Be Giants"  has a new science themed album out and one of the songs is titled "I am a Paleontologist."  The lyrics are as follows:I love diggin' in the dirt With just a pick and brush Finding fossils is my aim So I'm never in a rush 'Cause the treasures that I seek Are rare and ancient things Like Velociraptor's jaw Or Archaeopteryx's wings Now all

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-12488897910259138232009-09-03T19:00:00.004-06:002009-09-03T19:05:02.453-06:00

I hid a quartz crystal and a note behind the mirror when my sister remodeled the bathroom.  It's my hope that someday, somebody else remodels the bathroom and gets a kick out of finding hidden treasure and an old-school video game reference. In case you can't read the small print.  The note says "Congratulations, you found the treasure but the princess is in another castle."

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-5094470310841016972009-08-29T16:42:00.004-06:002009-08-29T16:52:04.418-06:00

For a hermit, the choice of one's hermitage is not the most important of things.  A place is a place so long as one is comfortable.  However, some hermitages stand out from others as having exceptional taste, even by hermits' standards, which may be regarded as significantly higher than the next persons (why do you think we spend so much time away from the next person?).  I've decided that if

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-44283010261506914292009-07-27T19:16:00.002-06:002009-07-27T19:18:18.865-06:00

said earlier today over coffee:"trying to get your all the facets of your life together is like grasping at straws being blown in the wind off three different hay bails."&"By the time you get your life together, you're probably too old to care."

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-32619918533450922322009-07-10T08:49:00.005-06:002009-07-10T09:04:14.008-06:00

Remember the good old days when you had to actually write a letter, on paper, put a stamp on the envelope and wait a week just to send a friendly 'hello' to someone you haven't heard from in a while?  No?  Good, then you were born some time after the invention of the telephone.  Writing letters for more than formal announcements made a come-back with the advent of e-mail.  Being free and

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-4634459841321107432009-06-14T14:07:00.002-06:002009-06-14T14:26:28.577-06:00

I'm sick of Tennessee, I'm sick in Tennessee.  This summer has so far exceeded all others for days I've been sick while the weather is nice.  In mid May I came down with a soar throat and cough that persisted for over a week and led me to go to the campus clinic to get a Strep test.  Although the rapid Strep test (which only tests for strain A) came back negative, the doctor prescribed

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-59618067101520500072009-04-30T01:33:00.002-06:002009-04-30T01:39:57.191-06:00

My bed is now just for show.  Having mastered procrastination in high school and producing quality work in the AM in my Undergrad, I've finally conquered the last hurtle, sleep itself.  I'm not sure how long I can keep going like this, but I've had a total of 9 hours of sleep since Sunday, 4 days ago.  In the past I'd always gone through several predictable stages of exhaustion: aches, difficulty

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-88195167827877213962009-04-06T20:54:00.002-06:002009-04-06T21:06:12.528-06:00

The theory of inclusive fitness argues that a gene for altruistic behavior will increase in a population when the reward for the altruism, proportional to the degree of relatedness of a recipient, is greater than the cost to oneself.  The problem with this is that traditional methods of measuring relatedness would say that each parent, offspring and sibling all have an r-value of 0.5.  That is,

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-66277786090615569712009-03-24T20:53:00.000-06:002009-03-24T20:54:11.408-06:00

In ancient Japan, one monk had the reputation of being the greatest cook in the entire Empire.  A samurai, similarly reputed for his excellence as a warrior, heard of this and journeyed to the monastery where he hoped to dine on as fine a repast as befit his status.  The monastery, like most monasteries that people of great importance reside in, was situated at the top of a great mountain.  

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-55695197092185392842009-03-01T11:51:00.005-07:002009-03-01T12:06:06.260-07:00

I can't believe that I never thought to look up the etymology of 'Hermit' before.  Here it is from the Online Etymology Dictionary :1130, from O.Fr. (h)eremite, from L.L. ermita, from Gk. eremites, lit. "person of the desert," from eremia "desert, solitude," from eremos"uninhabited." I had hoped that it had something to do with the solitary habits of those who traveled and would therefore have

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-83399076016805872842009-02-24T11:39:00.002-07:002009-02-24T11:43:34.831-07:00

Apparently someone cut out each of Ernst Haekel's drawing of invertebrates and put them online under a creative commons license.  Awesome!!!Check out the gallery Here

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-3480455597606883412009-02-16T11:15:00.003-07:002009-02-16T11:42:11.199-07:00

This weekend was Valentine's Day, which got me thinking about holidays and other date/ purpose specific celebrations.  I've written previously about my general dislike for obliged gift giving and reciprocation thereof, but this time I think that I'll assail holidays in general.  Scrooge was taught to keep Christmas in his hearth throughout the year.  The same principal could be applied to any

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-10557081186826510702009-02-09T13:27:00.002-07:002009-02-09T13:30:12.406-07:00

It occurred to me at a party the other night that the only thing that someone can say to me, that will get under my skin and raise my ire, is to call me sensitive.  

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-66461406519541909352009-02-01T10:21:00.003-07:002009-02-01T12:00:32.852-07:00

I've just read Conrad's 2008 "Phylogeny and Systematics of Squamata (Reptilia) Based on Morphology" and it has frankly left my head spinning.  What bothers me is that although this is the best attempt so far at figuring out squamate relationships, there is a big difference between the phylogeny that he developed and the one that I think is intuitively good.  I'm not saying that I prefer one

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-52003829777634495112009-01-30T18:17:00.003-07:002009-01-30T18:21:11.911-07:00

Ever wanted to know what the hell I was thinking when I said something?  Well now you can find out with the use of this handy flow chart of what goes on in my head during conversation.

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-37732969162069339532008-12-24T16:50:00.004-07:002009-02-16T11:45:14.949-07:00

One of the guys in my lab had his heart broken last summer and, in spite of our best efforts to cheer him up, has been fairly depressed ever since.  Last week, in an effort to socialize him more with people outside of the department, I took him to a few local bars, were he continued to mope.  He eventually asked me if I thought that there was one person for everyone.  Out of hand I dismissed that

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-15851686791567918932008-12-23T15:47:00.003-07:002008-12-23T16:00:19.310-07:00

I was reading Douglas Adams'  "The Salmon of Doubt" and came across and interesting statement : "My absolute favorite piece of information is that young sloths are so inept that they frequently grab their own arms and legs instead of tree limbs, and fall out of trees."  This seems like a very poor thing for sloths to be doing.  Evolutionarily, that sort of thing should have been weeded out long

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-773281518806919152008-12-17T10:38:00.005-07:002008-12-17T11:07:31.129-07:00

Toward the end of last August, I encountered a point of view that at the time struck me as bizarre and possibly revolutionary in terms of looking at God and faith.  I simply haven't written about it till now because my time has been taken up by my formal education.  The idea is that God probably isn't parsimonious.  That is, God doesn't need to do things by the simplest, most strait forward way

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-71530971163834878292008-12-13T16:28:00.002-07:002008-12-13T16:34:02.699-07:00

For some reason, I've noticed unicorns getting allot of mention lately.  A friend of mine was pissed because he forgot a hypothetical example that involved unicorns in one of his law exams.  They've been cropping up in other places too.  Boing-Boing is gaga for unicorns.  And so I present a photo that I found in my archives, it is one that I took during an ungulate lab in my comparative zoology

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-38275569799832046162008-12-11T21:54:00.004-07:002008-12-11T22:38:52.786-07:00

If you know me in person, I've probably mentioned that I've met Irony and that she's actually very nice.  If you know that, then you also know that I have a handle bar mustache.  The two are linked and I shall tell you why.When I was in Alberta, in my freshman year, I was at a bar and in walked 7 of the most beautiful women that I'd ever seen.  I later learned that they were Faith, Liberty,

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-67979711981059375182008-12-11T21:25:00.003-07:002009-02-16T11:45:29.021-07:00

Of all the ways that superheroes and villains kill each other, one in particular that people might actually relate to has yet to be invented, which is why I'm laying claim to the invention of the drama radiating villain.  The villain, male or female, it doesn't matter, simply radiates an energy that causes the lives of those around it to spiral into mind numbing drama.  Parts of the brain that

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-16035292313728204662008-11-13T08:27:00.005-07:002009-02-16T11:47:26.730-07:00

Here's a book seen on a colleague's book shelf.  That's right, the title is E Pluribus Unicorn.  I forgot to take a picture of the blurb on the back, but apparently it's a collection of short stories.  The author, Sturgeon, also wrote a couple episodes of the original Star Trek series and may have been a least partly the inspiration for the character Kilgore Trout, also a science fiction writer

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-45690125404216317522008-11-01T18:55:00.002-06:002008-11-01T19:37:10.109-06:00

I here report a gene complex responsible for sympatric speciation in Humans.  The genetic basis of metabolism relating to the deposition of subdermal fat has resulted in a behavioral  The range of expression of this gene in conjunction with environment will be referred to here as fatness.  The humans are subjected to environmental conditions so that there is complete expression of potential

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-51852289623062646322008-10-28T09:27:00.002-06:002008-10-28T09:39:00.899-06:00

Itunes is incredibly versatile, but there are two features that it clearly lacks.  The first is hierarchal classification.  Currently, only one genera can be set for a song at a time, so that my Irish punk is outside the realm of punk which is outside the realm of rock, although each is clearly a subset of the other.  The solution is to currently create smart playlists by adding either additional

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-73222536999590170892008-10-23T16:36:00.003-06:002008-10-23T16:44:07.527-06:00

I walked out of the store with it, I paid money to the cashier for it, but I'm not really sold on it.  The permissive return policy of big-box stores gives one the option of having a free trial period with a product before you actually commit to it.  Lately, I've been doing this with digital cameras and Walmart.  The reason that I'm looking at a digital camera at all is that the one that I bought

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-6758482645598907312008-09-14T16:55:00.002-06:002008-09-14T17:06:47.423-06:00

I've been waiting to be a graduate student for quite a while.  Now that I am one, I can think about things in a completely different way that when I wasn't.  This weekend, I finished reading the biography of Charles Shulz, read (and re-read) several papers on Australian skinks and started (and will possibly finish) Vonegutt's "Breakfast of Champions," in addition to watching several episodes of

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-15611535027194343562008-09-12T22:02:00.002-06:002009-02-16T11:48:10.013-07:00

I've been officially in grad school now for a few weeks, and it's about time that I actually nailed down what my thesis project is going to be.  Originally I was going to work on Western Australian agamid lizards, but I was informed that there was an easier group to work on: skinks.  The argument was this 'nothing is known about the morphology of australian agamids but next to nothing is known

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-55907748143420500962008-08-29T13:24:00.002-06:002009-02-16T11:46:02.140-07:00

So yesterday was my birthday, which as one would expect being that I'm in a new area, I spent by myself.  In fact, I read the same volume of Steinbeck that had me feeling down in the last post.  But instead of feeling lonely, I was uplifted, since birthday greetings came in from literally all corners of the continent.  I had best wishes from Florida, California, Alberta, Toronto, Montreal, Utah

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-64502606935182140042008-08-27T12:10:00.001-06:002008-08-27T12:11:28.076-06:00

Lately I’ve been reading a fair bit about the loneliness of successful men.  This includes the biography of Charles Schulz, the creator of Peanuts; Simple Curiosity, which is a collection of letters from George Gaylord Simpson, well-noted paleontologist, to his family; and John Steinbeck’s Travels with Charley in search of America.  All of these books deal with the profound loneliness of great

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-48246361675612972002008-08-26T13:38:00.002-06:002008-08-26T13:42:49.272-06:00

My seemingly continuous travels continue as I now find myself living in the American southeast.  I now reside in Eastern Tennessee, where everyone speaks as though Jeff Foxworthy taught English.  The amusing thing is that few people have commented on my accent.  One administrator was even surprised I said that I'd just moved out here from California.  'Well I guess you do sound different don't

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-12589107358566094902008-08-11T12:19:00.002-06:002008-08-11T12:25:07.241-06:00

What is quoted below is a great example of some spammer, with a translation program, or automatic message generator, producing a hilariously badly worded e-mail.  The English is so bad that I just had to post it here.  The spacing and line changes are exactly as they were in the e-mail that I received.  I removed the e-mail address that it links to so that people won't accidentally click it.Hello

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-75166704969532323872008-06-15T16:55:00.003-06:002008-06-15T17:02:46.410-06:00

Some of the beauty of Gelnaw's law is that on rare occasion, it actually works to one's advantage.  This last week, work finally started on the project that I've been waiting on in Central Utah.  I have little doubt that it started merely because my supervisors and I got tired of waiting around and instead had me go back to Vernal.  The night before I left to go back to Vernal, I had spoken with

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-82641952332118991132008-06-07T22:40:00.002-06:002008-06-07T22:56:12.524-06:00

I can't work and I can't leaveAnd I've no where to go before I sleepBeing in Utah kind of sucks right now.  I am in a tiny, coal mining town called Price, and in about 3 hours you can do just about everything there is to do in town without getting paid for it.  The problem is that I'm not getting paid, not nearly enough anyway.  Monday was the only day this week that I got full hours in.  The

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-2169296470011255592008-05-29T08:24:00.002-06:002009-02-16T11:46:45.874-07:00

Last summer, I did some surveying with a woman named Steph. Besides finding fossils, Steph was focused on getting as much area done as possible. She surveyed very, very fast, so that I was sure that she couldn't possibly have been getting everything. I brought this to the attention of our supervisor and was told that she didn't think that Steph was going too fast. Having been either chewed out

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-38388959827296609072008-04-28T15:16:00.003-06:002008-04-28T15:32:17.231-06:00

In effect, the Salvation Army, Good Will and other Thrift stores that rely on donations are libraries of stuff.  You check something out, you pay a fee, and then when you are done with it, you return it to the library that you got it from or another branch.   If you deem that something is beyond saving, you forfeit your fee and you save the library from throwing it away for you.    I think that

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-37992042680437833022008-03-31T22:42:00.002-06:002008-03-31T22:51:17.437-06:00

I got my official letter of acceptance into a Masters Program today.  It's at the Quaternary Science department at Northern Arizona University, which is good since it's the only school that I applied to this year.  In past years, I followed my Mom's advise and applied to as many schools as possible.  In past years, I was summarily rejected by every school that I applied to.  Evidently, I put my

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-24034111149683582082008-02-03T20:34:00.000-07:002008-02-03T20:48:03.717-07:00

Once again, I'm at the Tucson Mineral and Fossil Show.  I consider these trips to be valuable educational opportunities.  For instance, I'm learning how much the value of the U.S. dollar has dropped in the last few years compared for foreign currencies.  Since Morocco is one of the biggest exporters of fossils today, they are possibly the best yardstick to judge the value of the dollar in terms

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-13161648818962110432008-01-16T21:02:00.001-07:002008-01-16T21:10:44.357-07:00

My van has a really bad problem of breaking down when I'm far from home.  For once at least, I've managed to avoid that by breaking down only 15 miles from the house.  When I've joked that the exterior of the van is the only thing that is old, that all of the internal working parts are practically brand new, apparently I forgot about the ignition system.  The starter is new, but the actual

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-52678533242900241762008-01-01T11:54:00.000-07:002008-01-01T12:02:18.825-07:00

New Year, Same Resolutions.This time I mean it though.  There shouldn't be a difference between a resolution and a goal that you actually have the determination to accomplish, but there is.  Here are the things that I actually have the determination to achieve this year:1.  Get into a relationship that lasts more than a month. 2.  Start my thesis, whether I'm in grad school or not.3.  Clean my

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-24503461918001092862007-12-17T21:18:00.000-07:002007-12-17T21:20:53.606-07:00

I've left the frigid conditions of the Uinta Basin for a while. I'll likely go back when the snow melts in the spring. In the mean time though, I'm told that SWCA has some work for me here in So Cal, and I plan on contacting all the other environmental consulting companies in the area with the purpose of whoring out my paleontological services to whoever has work for me.

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-36452150882236257962007-12-05T18:54:00.000-07:002007-12-05T18:57:36.408-07:00

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-12979355272643711752007-12-04T18:32:00.000-07:002007-12-04T18:35:38.416-07:00

Well, it would seem that my amusingly elaborate mustache has a new function. It now acts as a place for ice to condense while I'm working. Yeah, it's cold. Yes, I'm out there all day. Does it warm up in the afternoon? Not really.

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-51175182444863213432007-11-30T19:27:00.000-07:002007-11-30T19:40:14.451-07:00

They say that mutability is the only constant. The weather in Utah is highly mutable. During the summer, it wasn't uncommon to get back to the truck after a long day of hiking to find that the thermometer read over 110F. Today, the thermometer barely got above 25F. In spite of the dramatic difference, the two temperatures do share the fact that they make working a full day outside somewhat

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-50227330531878074072007-11-03T10:07:00.000-06:002007-11-03T10:49:12.158-06:00

The 10 States (in Order traveled through): Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas & ColoradoThe Beautiful Women (in no particular order): Spark of Life, Many of the women at SVP (names too numerous to list indivudually) and a few girls that I met on 6th st in Austin (names forgotten or never learned). I would like to state for the record, and to protect

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-86720713773454003702007-10-23T12:45:00.000-06:002007-10-23T12:49:42.373-06:00

20 days, 10 states, over 4,000 miles traveled, beautiful women, good friends, a fair amount of booze and the walking dead. It was a good vacation.

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-41821695321472206942007-10-10T17:19:00.000-06:002007-10-10T17:24:29.877-06:00

The sun shines differently in southern California. There is a unique combination of altitude, pollution and humidity in this land of eternal summer that makes this place feel like home to me no matter how long I've been away. The moment that I enter the Los Angeles Basin, I feel like I'm right where I belong. Furthermore, although other people who move here after living in more northern clines

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-4954686543472067052007-09-29T16:15:00.001-06:002007-09-29T16:44:50.748-06:00

As promised, I'm posting some of the photos from this summerI am in a very intersting part of the world. There is no doubt that the people of this are aware of the importance of the local national monument and the paleontology of the area. In many ways, it is like Drumheller, except that the beer has less than half the alcohol. At the same time, the curche is the center of the comunity, literally

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-10375178105674992122007-09-17T11:01:00.001-06:002007-09-19T07:36:31.998-06:00

I'm waiting for my supervisor to finish some office stuff before we go out into the field to extract a large (possibly) brontothere jaw from an extremely large block of sandstone, so I thought that I should take this opportunity to post a long overdue update on what has been going on.I've been in Vernal, Utah since mid July and will likely be out here until the stat of October, when everyone else

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-73079312377947610722007-08-28T18:33:00.000-06:002007-08-28T18:35:47.575-06:00

It's my birthday and I've a fair number of thank you cards to write, but I'm exhausted. Working a 12 hour day, 9 of which is vigerous exersize, is great for the pay check, but it leaves you wiped out.

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-32263404922325963762007-08-23T17:24:00.001-06:002007-08-23T17:42:50.459-06:00

Aparently, Fox News, the product of conservative billionaire Rupert Murdock's personal love affair with media filters, has an evolution and paleontology web page. Even more amazing, the page includes statements indicating that the eart is over 6,000 years old and that perhaps not all creatures were created at the same time. At the same time though, there is a story on its front page about how

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-64400291893880782172007-08-16T16:45:00.000-06:002007-08-16T16:50:01.787-06:00

I came here at the end of July after an unreasonably hot (105 F) paleo survey in La Quinta, CA. I'll be here until it starts to snow. My time here has re-confirmed for me that fossil hunting, next to golf, is not only one of the best ways to ruin a good walk, but is simultaneously one of the most frustrating and rewarding activities that I can do. More on this later, hopefully pics too. Once

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-23505597968403255982007-05-27T12:17:00.000-06:002007-05-27T13:03:48.169-06:00

Since global warming, while still threatening everyone, has become somewhat old hat for the news media, it would seem that a new threat is assailing man kind: the loss of honey bees. One quotation that has been popularly used and attributed to Einstein is that if bees die out, then man has four years to live. This is based on the idea that the crops that man kind plants are reliant on honey bees

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-77379671815835980042007-05-26T15:28:00.000-06:002007-05-26T15:35:32.523-06:00

The Creation Museum in Kentucky has finally opened after several years of fighting over permits. The museum teaches a 6-day, literal interpretation of the story of genesis and has anamatronics, multi-sensory cinematic productions and all the other things that a $27 million budget gets a museum. Everything that is except for reasonable scientists to currate it and probably also a fossil

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-65477971129203618812007-05-25T15:41:00.000-06:002007-05-25T15:51:59.788-06:00

There is something little perverse about doing field paleontology with a set of binoculars while sipping Starbucks coffee. It is however an easy paycheck. That is how my week has pretty much been. I've been on construction sites, watching huge machinery move around relatively new (100,000 yrs or younger) alluvium and finding absolutely nothing. On Monday and Tuesday I was in Irvine and was

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-73710527181230508092007-05-12T15:26:00.000-06:002007-05-12T15:46:10.958-06:00

While browsing Amazon.com, I came across what must be one of the furthest reaches for marketing of Harry Potter products. It is an actually liscenced Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets fossil kit. It comes with 5 actual fossils as well as an activity to "excavate" a fossil and to imbed something in resin like a piece of amber. Perhaps my memory is a bit faulty (and I'm sure that a few

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-56116922855967913342007-05-09T12:48:00.001-06:002007-05-09T12:52:04.765-06:00

Here in the US (and no doubt on US programms broadcasted in other countries) there has been quite a bit of discussion lately about patriotism. Therefore, since I haven't posted anything else in a while, I thought I'd do my own critique of love for one's country. From an evolutionary standpoint, patriotism derives from the preference of those like yourself over those who are less so. In a purely

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-48625181258583655392007-04-27T20:55:00.000-06:002007-04-27T21:24:45.500-06:00

The following is a form letter that I would like to see be used someday by a would-be political candidate. They can check which ever box they like. I don't think that hopes for such a letter are realistic, but it's a nice hope.Dear Contributor, I realize that it must seem like I've taken your money under false pretences, but rather than spend the tens of millions that I've raised on

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-4959338130854784782007-04-20T20:41:00.000-06:002007-04-27T20:55:47.694-06:00

Besides food, rent and gasoline, the thing that I spend the most money on by far is books. I have no problem checking books out of the library when available, but more often than not, I prefer the out of print, poorly known, and ultimately somewhat rare books that one doesn't find at any but the best libraries. Below is an example of the books that I've purchased recently:Osteology of the

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-33541008236529191072007-04-19T11:24:00.000-06:002007-04-19T11:37:43.263-06:00

I appologize for the lack of posts lately. I've been without internet service for a little while, but now I'm back and I should be posting a few wildly interesting posts to compensate for my absesnce. I think that a 3 page essay on the biological implications of the origin of various forms of patriotism should bring back a few readers. Or perhaps an investigative report on mustaches, the

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-1616465929315595392007-03-15T10:15:00.000-06:002007-03-15T13:21:49.488-06:00

Since November, work for SWCA has been minimal, and since the end of January its been non-existant. So what does a man do when he has a rent to pay and no work? He goes to work at his parents' company. In my case, it's an attorney service company. Neither of my parents are lawyers, they're process servers. These are the people that serve subpoenas, writs, summons, and file the paperwork at the

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-56115951794153979682007-02-26T12:59:00.000-07:002007-02-26T13:22:19.106-07:00

I think that it's about time that I share some slightly belated photos of the more spectacular fossils that I picked up in Tucson. This critter is a crocodilian from the Sichuan province (supposedly) of China. It appears to be mostly real, except for the retroarticular process of the right jaw.Directly above is the same Moroccan Dyrosaur (an Eocene Crocodilian) in two stages of preparation. At

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-58411790545997554462007-02-10T21:28:00.000-07:002007-02-10T21:32:45.969-07:00

I'd never heard of this, but apparently this is the second year that there will be an "Evolution Sunday" in which about 500 congregations will pick up The Origin of Species as a way of responding to Intedigent Designists (ie Creationists) who publicly argue that science an religion are in conflict.link: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn11145-christian-faith-in-the-iotheri-good-book.html

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-47686470171082660002007-02-08T19:40:00.000-07:002007-02-08T19:14:58.468-07:00

Another expensive day; my total coming to about $755. The two big purchases for today are a chinese crocodilian skull and a brazilian geod with a large piece of selenite in it. I understand that some of those who read my blog probably have a problem with me supporting the chinese fossil trade. I justify the purchase because I am not the first person outside china to own it. The person that I

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-74123898836776777232007-02-07T19:10:00.000-07:002007-02-07T19:28:46.880-07:00

I have some rather mixed feelings about the Tucson gem and fossil show this year. For one thing, I'm bummed that I've missed alot of it. The show is winding down and many of the fossil dealers have already left. Another thing is that somebody beet me to two fossils that I was prepared to spend several thousand dollars on. They were a small and a large Archialosaur (or Agialosaur depending on

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-85802153962436869932007-02-06T19:55:00.000-07:002007-02-07T19:29:25.194-07:00

I just finished up a monitoring project in El Cajon, which is the somewhat poorer city about 10 miles east of San Diego proper. The long and the short of it is that I didn't find a damn thing, and wasn't going to. Whoever did the initial assessment of the site for its palaeontological sensitivity got it dead wrong. What I was told would be eocene fine sandstone turned out to be granite rich

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-6535186098965303942007-01-13T14:30:00.000-07:002007-01-13T14:55:19.269-07:00

This year marked my shortest trip to Quartzite ever. I left Thursday night and was back at home less than 24 hours later. The fact was that I'd seen just about all of it before. In fact, there seemed to be even less variety this year. I didn't really imagine that there could be much in the way of new fossils, but it was a little depressing none the less. Prices have been gradually climbing

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-88344421511451388212007-01-13T13:22:00.000-07:002007-01-13T13:39:47.554-07:00

Today I discovered the website of the University of Wisconsin's Brain Museum. It has the specimens of brains from over 150 different species, with photographs of whole specimens and cross sections. This got me to thinking ; are there any museums devoted to other strictly to one organ. I checked for spleen, heart, lungs, stomach, intestine, kidney, liver, skin, penis and vagina. Wouldn't you

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-64233660596608868912007-01-05T14:36:00.000-07:002007-01-05T15:32:36.258-07:00

Every once in a while, I get the itch. That urge which pushes me to spend more time, effort and money in pursuit of one thing than for anything else. Mine is an itch for TRAVEL!Until this last weekend, I'd been in southern California continuously now for 9 months, the longest that I've stayed in any one location without a major change in scenory since I left for university. As such, the

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-27684348937107287342006-12-21T17:22:00.000-07:002006-12-21T18:42:17.816-07:00

"And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of Chester a Saviour, which is Draco the lizard. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the egg

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-84905733523600593052006-12-19T00:06:00.001-07:002006-12-19T00:57:35.115-07:00

I haven't updated in a while, so I thouht that I would do the public service of providing links to recent news articles related to paleontology.The miocene fossil remains of a small land mammal have been found on the south island of New Zealand. This disproves the view that the landmass has been without indiginous mammals since it split from the rest of Gondwanaland during the Cretaceous. This

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-75860266258567624662006-12-02T20:53:00.000-07:002006-12-02T21:02:47.452-07:00

While searching for nurseries that cary primitive plants, I came across an excellent gallery of x-radiographs of various plants. The artist is Judith McMillan. This isn't particularly palaeontological in nature, but at least it has a magnolia (around since the Cretaceous). I doubt that anything new would be contributed to science by examining flowers via x-ray, but I'd still classify this as a

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-7707016119182820052006-11-27T12:36:00.000-07:002006-11-27T12:44:33.533-07:00

My parents brought to my attention that some fossils would be going up for auction in Los Angeles on Friday. This sort of thing always amuses me since I can get just about anything that would be going up for auction at a price significantly lower than would be paid at the auction house. Most things were too expensive by only one order of magnitude, although some were estimated to sell for close

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-1164573167440219072006-11-26T13:03:00.000-07:002006-11-26T13:37:39.696-07:00

I hope that my readers will forgive the lack of proper accents in the following post since the current version of blogger currently lacks the appropriate symbols for putting them in place. Therefore, where-ever one sees mate, please read it as though there were an accent over the e, therefore transforming it into a hard A sound and reverting the actual A in the word to a soft one. And they say

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-1164152774735030822006-11-21T16:24:00.000-07:002006-11-21T16:51:58.700-07:00

Since I'm still without a job to go to every day I've started working on some pet projects. Today I've started working on disproving my hypothesis that herbivores can evolve from carnivorous taxa but not the other way around. The one group of mammals that has so far presented the biggest threat to the validity of this hypothesis is the diprotodonia, the group of marsupials that includes most

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-1163725802997422742006-11-16T17:54:00.000-07:002006-11-16T18:10:03.013-07:00

Having installed a pond in my backyard and stocked it with goldfish, I've decided a little while ago that it would be an interesting experiment to see if I could replicate the clear water of the pond in the much larger pool. For some time now, the pool has been bright green, and quite uninviting to swimmers. This has been largely oweing to a deficiency of maintenance on my part and that of my

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-1163463460107450842006-11-13T17:10:00.000-07:002006-11-13T17:17:40.136-07:00

Since my last project ended in Chino Hills, I've been put temporarily on a new project in Newport Beach. This one is currently in the Capistrano formation, which is a mire of thick, organic rich shale, siltstone and infrequent sand. It's an okay locality for fossils, though not super. Most of the fossils are small and fragile and the rock doesn't split readily along its bedding plane. The

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-1162935800462482912006-11-07T14:19:00.000-07:002006-11-07T14:43:20.916-07:00

It's the smell of civic responsibility, it smells like duty! I voted today, just a few minutes ago as a matter of fact. For the most part, if i didn't care who won because I didn't know the candidate, I just left it blank. This was the case for the majority of the judicial positions. However, I decided that for major state rolls, I'd throw my vote away in a different manner. I voted for

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-1162885143735678362006-11-07T00:27:00.000-07:002006-11-07T00:39:03.750-07:00

Anybody'd be willing to give it to you. Inuendo aside, this means in my case that I can't get a lone from a reporting credit agency until I can sufficiently prove that I absolutely don't need it. This is one of the truisms that has plagued the young go-getter for generations but I feel that it warrents re-iterating here. Today I spent much of my time in the library, pouring over consumer

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-1162864239587299242006-11-06T18:43:00.000-07:002006-11-06T19:09:23.356-07:00

Japanese fishermen recently netted a dolphin that posesses atavistic rear fins. This means that it has an extra set of hand sized fins in front of its fluke. These appear to likely be a result of a mutation that has turned back on the genes that produced the back legs of the dolphin's terrestrial ancestors. Since the front and back legs are serially homologous structures, if the gene is turned on

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-1162606563179689392006-11-03T19:05:00.000-07:002006-11-03T19:29:14.770-07:00

Anyone who declares themselves an enemy of the theory of evolution, I declare an enemy of mine. That said, it makes me glad to see my enemies get terrible news. The particular case that brings this all up is that of "Dr. Dino" an evangelist in Florida who makes it his life's work to try to debunk evolution. He just found out that he's been found guilty of 58 counts of tax evasion and fraud,

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-1161564645430385502006-10-22T18:46:00.000-06:002006-10-22T18:50:45.463-06:00

I've survived yet another meeting of the society of vertebrate paleontology; replete with "team Canada dinner," auction, after hours parties and actual scientific lectures. I'll provide more details in an upcoming post, but suffice it for now to say that it was one of the funnest meetings that I've been to and that I am too tired to really go into things now, as the only sleep I've gotten in a

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-1160805909829153322006-10-13T23:44:00.000-06:002006-10-14T00:05:09.846-06:00

I am a man of extreme luck; it is always extremely good or extremely bad, but always extreme. Today, Friday the thirteenth, cleche day of bad luck, turned out to be quite misfortunate for me. By way of exposition, it is important to know that I was planning on going on a company camping trip to Sequoia national forest today after work. I have been looking forward to this for over a month.

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-1160610209611027832006-10-11T17:36:00.000-06:002006-10-11T17:43:29.626-06:00

Not much to say here; I just thought that I'd update the blog just for its own sake.anyway, here are a couple of pictures of the two gems that I've found at work. They are (in case you can't tell) a bird and a crab. The bird is especially rare and only a handfull of articulated specimens have been found from this age. The crab deserves note just because its the only arthropod that I've found in

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-1158543709485936132006-09-17T19:29:00.000-06:002006-09-17T19:41:49.503-06:00

The Norton Simon Museum of Art houses one of the largest collections of fine art (as opposed to modern art) outside of Europe, and yet, I haden't heard of it until last week when I visited the museum with my Grandparents. Interestingly, the museum is only a few miles, if that, from the office in Pasadena where I drop of my paperwork and fossils every week. When I asked other people about it and

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-1158472712189206882006-09-16T23:48:00.000-06:002006-09-17T19:28:17.360-06:00

Life is pretty decent for me here in So. Cal. First of all, I get paid to do what I love. Second of all, heavy equipment does the majority of the actual work for me. The down side however is that for every one fossil that I find, another 99 are likely destroyed by the machines without my ever knowing of their existance. Another disadvantage is that just about everything that I find has been run

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-1157512075218673062006-09-05T21:04:00.000-06:002006-09-05T21:07:55.220-06:00

I'm changing the title of the blog since I'm no longer a Califorian far from home. I've been back in California long enough and I intend to stay here long enough to warant a title change. That said, I think "The Hermit Crab" is a good title. It's just a working one for now, until I come up with something more fitting. After all, I'm not nearly as much of a hermit as I could be or as I was

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-1157399087449832252006-09-04T13:40:00.000-06:002006-09-04T13:44:47.466-06:00

Steve Irwin, the crocodile hunter, is dead. He was not eaten by a crocodile, bitten by a snake or mauled by a goana. Instead, he was stung by a sting ray off the Australian coast. This is not the way that he should have gone. It just goes to show that there are old nature guys and bold nature guys but no old, bold nature guys.

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-1156620519454398352006-08-26T13:05:00.000-06:002006-08-26T13:33:05.650-06:00

I'm bored, so I've decided to acquiesce to Sparks' request for people to make a list of great movie quotes. I however have decided that a good twist would be to imagine Samuel L. Jackson saying each line with his own unique inflection. This just goes to show that Mr. Jackson really could be in any movie, ever.1. "We're gonna explode? I don't wanna explode!" - Serenity2. "We represent the lollipop

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-1155085936135661472006-08-08T19:06:00.000-06:002006-08-08T19:12:16.716-06:00

Some days, life gives you little treats. The figure at the left appeared in the most recent issue of the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology in an article on binocular vision in theropods. I'm not going to say that this picture didn't belong in a scientific paper. Quite the contrary, I believe that more scientists should have a little sense of humor about their work. I'm sure that these guys

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-1154565707445488212006-08-02T18:39:00.000-06:002006-08-02T18:41:47.460-06:00

Mel Gibson's arresting officer, the one who wrote the report that included Gibson's alleged anti-semetic ranting, is himself jewish. Normal irony or maximum irony?

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-1154473715557886952006-08-01T16:51:00.000-06:002006-08-01T17:08:35.613-06:00

At work, I find a fair number of crummy fossils that I don't even bother to collect, or collect and later decide that it wasn't worth it and consiquentially discard. Withouth knowing this though, a few of the machine opperators have been asking for fossils for their kids or girlfriends and others. So far, I've made it clear that I can't give them anything that is scientifically significant (i.e

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-1154153010525250472006-07-28T23:58:00.000-06:002006-07-29T00:03:30.536-06:00

Lately, a tremendous amount of my megalomaniacal tendencies have been boiling to the surface. Really, I haven't talked as much about laying waste to vast stretches of citiscape since I lived with Hydrass and Bento. I just guess that when I'm on my own I sort of mellow out, but in the company of others I develope the strong urge to domineer over them. And I don't mean domineer in the way that

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-1152410616359603972006-07-08T19:51:00.000-06:002006-07-08T20:03:36.396-06:00

Yesterday (friday) was an awesome day. One so good that something freakishly horrible, if not widely fatal must surely happen to ballance things out. What made it so great was what I found at work. Everyday, the construction workers ask me if I've found any dinosaurs yet. The fact that the rocks that I'm digging in are much too young for dinosaurs means that I usually have to answer in the

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-1151993266317279502006-07-04T00:05:00.000-06:002006-07-04T00:07:46.326-06:00

I'm glat that this happens to other people too.A great little comic strip

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-1151958569907609662006-07-03T14:09:00.001-06:002006-07-03T14:29:29.910-06:00

As perhaps I've mentioned previously, at the site that I'm working, I find a fairly large number of fossil fish. I find fish every day; I'm dissappointed if I don't find one before lunch. Perhaps as a consiquence of this, my brother asked me last week if I'd like to go fishing with him on a 3/4 day boat out of San Pedro. Yesterday I woke up at 4:00 am and we drove other to my parents' place to

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5779926.post-1151276330152060822006-06-25T16:49:00.000-06:002006-06-25T16:58:50.166-06:00

I'm sad to comment that Harriet, the Galapogos tortoise brought back by Charles Darwin 173 years ago, has died of acute heart failure. It has been popularly suggested for a long time that these animals could live for over 200 years, but no specimen has been kept long enough to actually be sure. One thing that interests me is that some people are reporting that Darwin brought back the tortoise

California Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14560681925483619466noreply@blogger.com0